1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dielectric elements, especially but not exclusively to porous dielectric elements having a low dielectric constant, which are intended, for example, to be incorporated into integrated circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
To reduce information propagation times in the interconnects (metal lines, vias, etc.) of integrated circuits, it is beneficial to use materials having a low dielectric constant (or relative permittivity), typically of less than 4.0, in order to isolate these metal interconnects. In addition, a material having a low dielectric constant promotes decoupling between the various lines.
One way of decreasing the dielectric constant of a dielectric is to produce it in porous form. This is because the presence in the pores of gas, the dielectric constant of which, equal to 1, is the lowest possible, makes it possible to reduce the overall dielectric constant of the porous material.
A known method of producing a porous material consists in producing a hybrid material comprising, on the one hand, an SiwOxCyHz matrix and, on the other hand, nanoscale organic inclusions and then in degrading, by a heat treatment alone or a heat treatment enhanced by ultraviolet radiation or by an electron beam, the organic inclusions so as to obtain the final porous material.